An in-game warning of an impending six-month ban
Bans are a form of punishment given out to players who violate certain regulations. The exact mechanics behind banning have not been disclosed by Valve, and are changed frequently to address community concerns regarding matchmaking. This page reflects what is currently known based on community experience.
In-game bans
Two types of in-game bans are administered. Players may receive one or both at the same time.
- Communications bans restrict text and voice communications. It does not affect matchmaking, and will not put players into low priority.
- Matchmaking bans restrict queuing for matches, and usually come with low priority. Ranked matchmaking tends to have harsher criteria and longer punishment times.
Criteria
- Declining ready matches
- Abandoning too many matches
- Reports from other players
- Low behavior score (from feeding, abandoning, player abuse, etc.)
- Unspecified internal analyses
Time
- The more offenses, the longer the ban.
- Ban time escalates each time a consecutive ban is issued.
- Escalation time resets after an unknown period of good behavior (usually a few days).
- The scaling below is only an estimate. Ban durations may not always follow the order shown in this table.
- For example, a player with many offenses may be immediately banned for a day, without having first been banned for ten minutes.
- Ban time for declining/abandoning matches usually starts low, while behavioral offenses tend to start with longer ban times.
Ban durations 10 minutes 30 minutes 1 hour 1 day 1 week 1 month 3 months 6 months
VAC ban
A Steam profile with recorded VAC ban. This record cannot be hidden.
This form of ban is performed under the Valve Anti-Cheat system (VAC). It suspends the user from the game entirely. During this time, Dota 2 will be inaccessible.
VAC bans are recorded on the user's Steam profile, and will be permanently visible to all other users. These bans will also remove players from the Leaderboards.
Criteria
- According to unconfirmed sources, crashing dedicated servers while playing a matchmaking game can also lead to a permanent VAC ban, as soon as the offense is confirmed by Valve.
| Offense | Punishment |
|---|---|
| Deliberate actions to artificially boost MMR of an account | 1 year |
| Buying, selling, or trading accounts with boosted MMR | |
| Creating an unfair competitive advantage through third-party programs (macros) | |
| Circumventing low priority by collusion with other users or bots | |
| Abusing matchmaking to gain in-game awards (Battle Passes) | |
| Using external tools attached to Dota 2 | Permanent |
Exceptions
The following will not result in a VAC ban:
- Using commands in the console.
- Using commands in the Launch Options.
- Using cheats in private lobbies.
- Using a legitimate third party program like Xfire or Overwolf.
- Cosmetic modding (models, textures, icons, sounds, text, etc).
- However, some mods that involve a third party program or changes to the game engine may be considered too intrusive by the VAC system.
- Cheats can also be maliciously embedded within cosmetic mods, causing unsuspecting users to get banned.
- Modders should exercise careful judgment.
See also
External links
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